Eugenics in the United States: not the past, but the present

Most Americans are unaware of the Eugenics programs that were implemented in the 1920s and continued until the 1970s. Even fewer are cognizant of the fact that eugenics is still practiced in the United States today. The Eugenics Movement is more subdued than it was nearly 90 years ago and there are different pseudonyms that disguise the practice, but the fact remains that the Eugenics movement in the United States is alive and well – and taking your tax dollars.

Under the guise of “reproductive health,” the United States has never stopped the government-sanctioned eugenics programs. Over $300 million of taxpayer money goes to family planning programs that are intentionally used suppress the birthrate in low-income, minority families. Abortion proponents like the Guttmacher Institute have deemed this category of citizens the most “at risk” for unintended pregnancies, and requiring the most amount of government-funded family planning programs.

Although the family planning money is strictly intended for contraceptives, much of it ends up at Planned Parenthood, America's number one abortion chain. It is no secret that Planned Parenthood’s founder, Margaret Sanger, was a self-proclaimed eugenicist, but many erroneously believe that those views died with her. Sanger trained under Swiss eugenicists who glorified and helped shape the Nazi view of the world. It stands as a testament that today while 80 percent of Planned Parenthood facilities are located in low-income, minority areas, and nearly 40 percent of all black babies are killed by abortion, that eugenics is still practiced throughout the nation.

Suppressing birthrates of racial minorities is not the only intent of eugenics. Today, over 90 percent of children prenatally diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted. New tests are emerging that allow women to see if their child may be born with Down syndrome, autism, other cognitive disabilities, or even physical ailments. These tests are advertised as a way to determine whether a child is “suitable” for a “quality life” and whether such a disability would suit his or her parents’ lifestyle.

Sterilization programs that were practiced in North Carolina in the 1960s were recently in the news. These programs were meant to keep “undesirables” – blacks, mentally handicapped people, and low-income women – from having children and passing on these “undesirable” traits. People are appalled that something so immoral could be implemented on a group of people who were their neighbors, friends, and family. Yet, they continue to allow Planned Parenthood and other abortion facilities into their neighborhoods and communities with the main objective to decrease the number of minority and low-income pregnancies and births.